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Letter 71
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Coquette, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Women and Society
Sex and Virtue
Marriage and Social Mobility
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
“Oh, Deighton,” Sanford writes, “I am undone!” He tells Charles about Eliza’s death and expresses his deep love for her and regret that she is now gone. Sanford’s wife and house are gone now, as well; Nancy has finally divorced him, and he signed over his house to appease his creditors. “In short I am barred from every kind of happiness,” Sanford tells Charles and bids him a final farewell. “Let it warn you, my friend, to shun the dangerous paths which I have trodden.”
Sanford implies that Charles is a rake, as well, and he implores him to stop. Sanford is ruined, and his fate also serves as a cautionary tale for men who play fast and loose with their own virtue, a criticism unheard of in the eighteenth century, especially coming from a female author. Foster’s novel was not published under her name until after her death, and this is perhaps one of the reasons why. Like Eliza, Foster too appears to resist the patriarchy.
Themes
